House Passes Continuing Appropriations Bill in a Mixed Vote

Tuesday, March 15th, 2011, the House passed House Joint Resolution 48, which funds discretionary spending by the Federal Government until April 8th, 2011. The final vote was 271-158, with 54 Republicans voting against it, and 85 Democrats voting for it.

The mixed partisan voting pattern was due to a number of factors – most Republicans who voted for its passage feared being blamed for a government shutdown, as the current appropriations expire on March 18th. The same motivation fueled 85 Democrats’ (mostly bluedog) desire to join the moderate Republicans in support of the bill. The 54 Republicans who voted against it thought it did not cut spending sufficiently, and the measure was a capitulation to pressure from the liberal media; the 104 Democrats who voted against it thought that it cut spending too much, especially in pet programs such as certain housing subsidies, EPA greenhouse gas studies, and BLM land acquisition and development.